Chemical Composition of Volatile Oil from the Aerial Parts ofRosmarinus officinalisL. Grown in Jordan

The chemical composition of volatile oil hydrodistilled from the aerial parts of Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Lamiaceae), collected from cultivated species in Jordan, has been analyzed by means of GC and GC-MS. The oil yield was 0.7 % (v/w of dried material). Fifty five compounds, counting for more than 99 % of the oil composition, were successfully identified. Monoterpenes (33.8 % as monoterpene hydrocarbons and 63.7 % as oxygenated monoterpenes) represented the predominant oil fraction (97.5 %). This included 1,8-cineole (31.1 %) (the principal oil component), α-pinene (16.5 %), camphor (11.7 %), borneol (8.7 %), camphene (6.1 %), and verbenone (3.0 %) as major oil constituents. In addition to assigning a 1,8-cineole chemotype to Jordanian rosemary, the oil composition which is characterized by dominant levels of oxygenated terpenoids, gives an added industrial value to the hydrodistilled oil.